SC okays land deal for new Agra road

The landowners had approached the apex court in appeal after the Allahabad High Court dismissed their petitions.

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Mail Today Bureau

New Delhi

September 9, 2010

UPDATED: September 9, 2010 13:50 IST

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the acquisition of 1,604 hectares by the Uttar Pradesh government for the construction of the 160-km, six-lane Yamuna Expressway that would considerably reduce the travel time from Delhi to Agra.

The apex court upheld the process the government followed to acquire land in Gautam Budh Nagar, Agra, Mathura and Aligarh.

A bench comprising justices V. S. Sirpurkar and Cyriac Joseph rejected the contention by 35 landowners that the government had wrongly denied them a hearing by invoking the urgency clause under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. The landowners had approached the apex court in appeal after the Allahabad High Court dismissed their petitions.

The SC said it was convinced that there was urgency in the matter as the project had dragged its feet from 2001 to 2008. The ordinary procedure for acquisition of land would have taken years, it noted.

The bench pointed out that the project was conceived in 2001 but the notification for acquisition was issued in 2009 only after a PIL against it ended in favour of the government.

The court took note of the state's argument that the project had already been hopelessly delayed as costs had escalated from Rs 1,700 crore to Rs 9,700 crore.

It also observed that the scales of justice must tilt towards the right to development of millions as against the human rights of 35 petitioners whose main complaint was that they were not given a hearing.

The court said the Land Acquisition Act permitted the government to dispense with an inquiry in case of urgency.

A decision in this regard had to be taken by the government and the discretion could be challenged only if it suffered from malice or if sufficient material to dispense with a hearing was not available, the bench observed.